Zonal Detached Eddy Simulation of the Fan-Outlet Guide Vanes Stage of a Turbofan Engine: Part I—Methodology, Numerical Setup, and Aerodynamic Analysis

Abstract

This article deals with the zonal detached eddy simulation of the fan module of a modern turbofan engine for the prediction of the broadband noise due to the interaction of the fan turbulent wakes with the stationary outlet guide vanes. The simulation relies on a hybrid RANS/LES approach with a zonal strategy: the core airflow is treated in RANS, while the bypass airflow is solved with the hybrid approach. The simulation was performed during four revolutions, and statistical convergence was reached. Inspections of the flowfields highlight a consistent behavior of the shielding function (border between RANS and LES solving areas) around the blade walls and at the trailing edge for a such complex flow. The fan module was tested in the AneCom facility in which hot wire measurements were made in-between the fan and the outlet guide vanes. The numerical results are compared to this large dataset of measurements. The flow maps are well retrieved by the simulation for both the time-averaged and the turbulent quantities. Comparison of radial profiles shows an excellent agreement for the three root-mean-square (RMS) components of the velocities between zonal detached eddy simulation (ZDES) and the measurements, particularly in the tip gap flow area, in which RANS results do not reproduce correctly the flow quantities. The wake shape, a key feature in the mechanism of generation of rotor–stator interaction noise), is quite well predicted by the ZDES simulation. These numerical results demonstrate the maturity of the approach for the simulation of complex turbomachinery flows.